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Hands-on: Sin and Punishment 2

by JC Fletcher { Jun 4th 2009 at 9:30AM }

Nintendo's E3 booth is full of "Everybody's Games," games designed to be accessible to anyone and enjoyable without being frustrating. Well, it's full of "Everybody's Games" ... and a Treasure shooter. Sin and Punishment 2 doesn't seem to make any concessions to the Wii audience, with the usual frantic pace fans of Bangai-O, Ikaruga, and, well, Sin and Punishment expect, as well as some patently bizarre imagery and language at work. Refer to the giant chicken monster in the trailer above, called the, uh, Cock Keeper. Treasure's English has always been a bit awkward.

Continued →

Nintendo reveals Q1 2010 release for Sin & Punishment 2

by David Hinkle { Jun 2nd 2009 at 2:00PM }

Nintendo opened up its assets site at the conclusion of its E3 keynote, and while digging around for juicy bits of media to unload on you, dear reader, at rock-bottom prices, we found something interesting regarding Treasure's upcoming Wii title Sin & Punishment 2. The game is listed for a Q1 2010 release, according to Nintendo, which comes as a pleasant surprise to us. Sure, the game was always expected to arrive in 2009, but without hearing or seeing anything on it in around a year, we're comforted simply by the fact that Nintendo still knows it exists.

Microsoft wants Radiant Silvergun XBLA remake

by Dustin Burg { Jan 5th 2009 at 3:15PM }

Chatting with Gamasutra, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa revealed that Microsoft has been trying to win over their hearts, gifting them chocolates and giving massages all in an effort to bring the Saturn's Radiant Silvergun to the Xbox Live Arcade. Kidding about the chocolates and massages.

Though, Maegawa makes it clear that even though Microsoft wants a remake that he and Treasure have yet to decide if they want to bring Radiant Silvergun love to the XBLA. Why wouldn't they? Well, Maegawa says that it'd take a lot of dev time to make it work on the 360 and he admits that "it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." We were under the impression that aged Radiant Silvergun is like a fine wine. It only gets better years down the road.

[Via Joystiq]

Microsoft requested 'Radiant Silvergun' XBLA remake, Treasure considering

by Jason Dobson { Jan 5th 2009 at 1:13PM }

There may soon be a way of picking up and playing Radiant Silvergun that doesn't involve second mortgages or selling plasma. Talking with Gamasutra, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa revealed that Microsoft has approached the developer about giving the cult classic arcade and Saturn shmup a makeover for Xbox Live Arcade.

While you reattach your jaw, it's worth noting that Treasure has yet to say yes to the remake, with Maegawa expressing concern that unlike Ikaruga, which blasted its way onto XBLA in April 2008, much more work would have to be done to Radiant Silvergun before it was given the green light. "If you play Radiant Silvergun nowadays," noted the exec, "it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." Honestly Treasure, you can have our Microsoft Points, spit polish or not. Anything to keep our precious bodily fluids to ourselves.

Bleach: Video Crusade

by JC Fletcher { Dec 15th 2008 at 7:24PM }

We're pretty sure people still like the Bleach manga and anime, and we like Treasure, and everyone likes a good online fighting game, so Bleach: Versus Crusade seems like a winner. Since Sega localized both previous Treasure Bleach games for the DS, we wouldn't be too surprised to see this one come along as well. Sega isn't making any hints in this trailer, though -- the Wi-Fi section overlays two gameplay videos over a map of Japan.

The trailer looks totally great, if a bit hyperfast for our comprehension! We're anxious (and slightly worried) to see how Treasure fares at creating a 3D fighter.

Bleach: Some People Fighting

by JC Fletcher { Nov 21st 2008 at 10:52AM }

We think we're going to have to start reading or watching Bleach so we know what's going on in Bleach Versus Crusade and the DS fighting games. Our interest in the DS games has been motivated mostly by love of developer Treasure, and that is certainly driving our desire to play the Wii game as well. But we can't help but think that it would be nice to know who all these people are and why they're fighting.

Even as a context-free fighting game, however, we think Versus Crusade looks pretty nice. You can see for yourself in the latest batch of screens, originally posted on the official site, but visible in a much less annoying Flash interface on Wiiz.

Wii Warm Up: Top title for 2009?

by David Hinkle { Nov 19th 2008 at 8:00AM }

So, yesterday we had some talk about 2009 and how there are plenty of great games releasing on the Wii. What we want to know this morning is what is the top 2009 title for you? What are you looking forward to most next year? We know it's a lot to ask, what with everything that is due to release.

Is it The Conduit? Is it MadWorld? Sin & Punishment 2? Well, out with it!

Six of our favorite Media Summit videos

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 2nd 2008 at 8:48PM }

You've already had the chance to examine scores of wonderful screens from new Wii games announced at the Nintendo Media Summit. This new post is dedicated to displaying thousands of more screens (squashed together to create videos) of some of the bigger titles that have been shown at the event.

We settled on placing Nintendo's official Punch-Out!! trailer at the top of this post, but could have easily led with some truly fantastic Sin & Punishment 2 footage, an impressive tech demo of The Conduit, or Yuji Naka's wacky-looking Let's Tap. Instead, all of those (and more) are past the break, and need to be viewed right now. Before you go, though, one final note: if any game released this year has a funkier soundtrack than Let's Tap, we'll be gobsmacked.

Continued →

Sin & Punishment 2 and other third-party gems confirmed [update]

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 2nd 2008 at 2:02AM }

Update: Screen grab from Nintendo's media page, which has video of all these new games! Check it out right here.

Nintendo just unleashed a demo reel of upcoming third-party Wii games, including Taiko no Tatsujin Wii, a new Tsumi to Batsu/Sin & Punishment game from Treasure, a Wii version ofAnother Code (otherwise known as Trace Memory, the DS adventure game), Let's Tap (Yuji Naka's latest project, a.k.a. the game that even penguins can play), Sengoku Musou 3 (Samurai Warriors 3) and a new "mothership" title in the Tales Of series.

Will the internet regard this as the press conference that E3 should have been? We suspect so!

Bleach: Versus Controls

by JC Fletcher { Sep 25th 2008 at 9:55AM }

If Treasure is going to continue making Bleach fighting games -- Bleach: Versus Crusade is the third, a very unusual occurrence for a developer that shuns sequels in general -- we're going to have to start learning things about the Bleach series. Right now it's "that one anime with the Treasure fighting games." Actually, now that we think about it, that's enough. We don't really care who all these people are; we're quite satisfied to know them only as cool-looking cel-shaded characters in this game, who often fight in tag teams.

It's possible that this game will play much like the DS Bleach games. Versus Crusade, according to this Famitsu post, supports both the Classic Controller and the GameCube controller. That doesn't rule out a continuation of the existing Wii Bleach style, but the Treasure involvement suggests otherwise.

Bleach: Versus Crusade is hidden Treasure

by JC Fletcher { Sep 9th 2008 at 12:41PM }

We thought Bleach: Versus Crusade looked nice enough when we saw it yesterday, but it now looks completely awesome. What has changed? Nothing in terms of the look of the game. We've just learned that it's the work of Treasure, developer of the Bleach DS games, as well as -- lots of stuff. Most recently Bangai-O Spirits. This is no doubt one of the two Wii projects to which Treasure president Masato Maegawa has alluded.

Treasure's somewhat problematic history with 3D may be less of a problem now that we know the new game is a 3D version of one of their established series. Perhaps it will be like the DS games with different graphics. Or perhaps this will be, like Sin and Punishment, a good 3D Treasure game!

[Via NeoGAF]

Fanswag: Bangai-O goes to ...

by David Hinkle { Sep 3rd 2008 at 10:45PM }

Our latest giveaway has come to a close and we've selected our two winners. If there's one thing that's hard to do, it's having to part with Bangai-O, let alone two copies. But, hey, it's our job! The winners are:

thebagel, who is a big Ikaruga fan
Noir, who enjoys Radiant Silvergun

Congratulations to our winners and better luck next time to the rest of you. Thanks for reading!

Game professionals create Bangai-O levels in the spirit of charity

by JC Fletcher { Sep 3rd 2008 at 3:00PM }

IGN, D3, and The Guildhall have teamed up to host an exclusive Bangai-O Spirits level contest between game industry professionals. The winner will have a $10,000 graduate fellowship donated to The Guildhall in his name -- which means that some graduate assistant is going to pay the rent with one of these Bangai-O levels.

IGN has all nine levels, from designers at Infinity Ward, Infinite Interactive, and other such prestigious studios, available for download and voting. It's really interesting to see what people who think about levels for a living do with the Bangai-O rule set. Harvey Smith, lead designer of Deus Ex, made an arena for super-annoying FastBots; Infinite's Steve Fawkner replicated the Atari classic Warlords.

All of the levels -- many of which tend toward the baroque -- are great, but our favorite is the simplest one: Shane Hensley's "Pinball Wizard," designed to imitate a pinball playfield. It looks stark, but explodes into bullets in a way that is startling even for Bangai-O.

Gallery: Bangai-O Spirits

Fanswag: Bangai-O up for grabs

by David Hinkle { Aug 27th 2008 at 10:00AM }

Hey folks, do you like free stuff? Do you like free stuff that just so happens to also be totally awesome? Then enter our latest giveaway, right here, which will be hooking up two lucky readers with their own copy of Bangai-O Spirits (retails for $30)! How do you enter? That's easy!

Simply leave a comment telling us what your favorite Treasure shooter is. Need a refresher? Hit up our latest feature looking back at their wonderful shooters right here. Or, just hit up the gallery at the below of this post. You can leave one comment per day, between now and 11:59PM ET on Monday, September 1st, which is when the giveaway ends.

There is a catch, though. This latest giveaway is only open to current and legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec). Also, entrants need to be at least 18 years of age. Read up on the official rules right here.

Best of luck to you all and thanks for reading DS Fanboy!

Gallery: Treasure shooters

DS Fanboy Review: Bangai-O Spirits

by JC Fletcher { Aug 18th 2008 at 8:30PM }

If you've ever played a Treasure shooter, or almost any Treasure game outside of, say, Stretch Panic or Wario World, you know a bit about what to expect from Bangai-O Spirits. For years, Treasure has been creating incredibly strange games with overt humor and colorful graphics overlaid on top of complex mechanics and piles and piles of enemies. Each game has a "gimmick" that drives the gameplay and defines the player's abilities: swapping colors in Ikaruga, throwing in Gunstar Heroes, and so on.

Bangai-O Spirits has all the hallmarks of a Treasure shooter. It doesn't take itself seriously, but provides more than enough of a challenge for any gamer. It features the same gimmick as the other Bangai-O games, and will be instantly familiar to fans of those. In fact, it seems to be the ideal Treasure game. At the same time, it completely subverts the usual Treasure dynamic, with brilliant results.